With Every Tick of the Time Dragon Clock
by strumpetforhire
Summary: Elphaba pays a visit to the Clock of the Time Dragon. How will the secrets she learns there affect her? Will they change her past? Her future? BookMusical crossover set while Elphaba is still at Shiz
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned anything associated with _Wicked_ the musical, _Wicked_ the novel, or _The Wizard of Oz_ in any of its various forms. They belong to Frank Oz, Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and anyone else with a legal claim to them.

A/N: Well, here it is, my second attempt at fanfiction, for which I have appropriated aspects from both the book and the musical and shaken them up with bits of my own imagination to produce the work you have before you. Enjoy! (If you don't, please let me know.) I would appreciate any and all feedback, as I'm still new to fanfic writing and could benefit from constructive criticism. I plan to continue this at some point in the future, and if any pairing is included, it will probably be Elphaba/Fiyero, in case anyone wishes to know.

With Every Tick of the Time Dragon Clock

She had heard of it, of course. How could she not? She remembered, as a child, her father seemed to have some sort of personal vendetta against it. She had never heard the full story, but from the bits and pieces she had been able to put together, she discovered that he blamed it for her, for the way she had been born. No, the color that she had been born. And now she stood before it, trying to discern the evil within through its odd, metallic shell. She felt no revulsion, nothing except an odd kinship with this mechanical mystery, with its hands set permanently at the eleventh hour. She knew that sometimes she had the strange sense that she, herself, was merely a performer, living out a pre-scripted version of life, being mechanically pulled about before an unseen audience, who knew her life's ending before she had had the chance to reach it. Perhaps she was evil, wicked. Perhaps that was why this object felt known to her, as if it were part of a world that waited just beyond her grasp, the world that she felt take shape inside that bizarre dream world where she hovered between sleep and wakefulness. She dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. Her life had barely begun. She hadn't yet had time to store up that kind of wickedness. Had she?

But all these thoughts were beside the point. She was here as a dare, an act of rebellion against the subservience she had been pushed into for so much of her young life. She had discussed it with Galinda, whose perfect features had filled with an odd mix of glee and revulsion at the possibility of such mysterious mischief. The thought of sneaking off-campus was enough to send her in a tizzy, and the thought of breaking the rules to see something so closely linked to the unexplained as the Clock of the Time Dragon filled her with a delicious sense of trepidation. Elphaba, of course, had downplayed these feelings. She was going, or so she avowed, merely out of academic curiosity, to find out exactly what the this purported clock was and why it was there and who was behind it. Nessarose's admonitions that she mustn't even contemplate such wickedness had been more than enough to spur her on, and Galinda's disbelief that the studious Miss Elphaba would risk her perfect academic record to sneak off-campus to see some forbidden curiosity had been the final push that she needed to propel her out of her room, through the streets of Shiz, and out to the tiny shack on the outskirts of town, where the Clock of the Time Dragon and its keepers were housed.

A whirring noise stirred her from her reverie. The clockwork dragon poised atop the structure was coming to life, spewing forth smoke and beckoning her forward with one long, bejeweled claw. With a flick of its leathery wing, it revealed a tiny stage, where a perfect little clockwork man and woman stood in front of a replica of her own home, the Governor's Mansion in Munchkinland. The couple parted, with the little man turning to march offstage, while at the opposite end of the stage one of the strangest contraptions Elphaba had ever seen, some sort of inflated piece of cloth, with a basket attached beneath, floated down to rest next to the woman. Out from the basket hopped another little man holding an even tinier green glass bottle that, Elphaba realized with mounting horror, bore a striking resemblance to the bottle currently residing beneath her pillow. She watched, unable to tear her eyes away, as the man and woman seemed to drink from the bottle before turning to each other to settle, intertwined, on a bed that had been brought onstage at some point during the proceedings. The scene changed. The bed was still the same, but the original man was back, joined by an ancient Sheep, and the woman now sported a swollen abdomen that bore testament to her previous actions. Elphaba knew what was coming, but she couldn't make herself turn away as the Sheep reached beneath the woman's skirts and pulled forth a tiny, perfectly-formed, and unmistakably green infant.

Elphaba stepped back finally, horrified at the implications of what she had seen. The scenes continued, with a little green girl now being tormented by a flock of dirty peasant children, but she couldn't watch any longer. She didn't want to know how far the scenes continued, or if they would reveal to her some twisted version of her future. She turned, sickened, and began to run blindly away from the horrible machine.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm finally updating. Sorry for the long wait, but exams, an inordinately busy summer, and a rather severe case of writer's block have hindered my progress on this poor story. I also have difficulties with internet access over the summer, so I'm not sure when the next update will be. Sorry in advance. Thanks for the positive reviews! I love each and every one of you, my gentle readers.

Disclaimer: Although I have been trying desperately to get some sort of legal rights to Fiyero, I still do not own him or anything related to _Wicked_. Ah, well. Maybe next month I can kidnap Norbert Leo Butz.

Chapter 2

Elphaba's legs ached and her lungs heaved in protest, but she ignored them. She recognized, in some clinically detached section of her brain, that she couldn't keep running much longer or she would collapse, but she couldn't stop. She had to find safety somewhere in this unwelcoming city, some place where she could stop and let her jumbled thoughts realign themselves, a place where she could study these new pieces to the puzzle that had become her life and see where and how she could fit them together.

In her haste to find a safe haven, she didn't notice the "tall" munchkin in her path until she had run straight into him, sending both of them careening down toward the pavement, the stack of papers in Boq's hands creating a brief halo around them as they soared in every direction.

"M…Miss Elphaba!" he stammered, frightened by being presented so suddenly with Elphaba's startling physiognomy. "I…I was…I mean…did I…I mean, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Boq," she said, hoisting herself from the ground and beginning to gather the scattered papers.

"Oh…okay…well, I was just…on my way to see N…Nessa."

At Boq's words, the thoughts that had been temporarily halted by their collision ground into action once more. Nessarose. Her sister, or so she had always thought. She had dedicated her life to helping this girl whose disability she had always blamed on herself, but now….Was she really to blame? If the Clock of the Time Dragon was right, then how did Nessarose fit into the picture? Was she still her sister? Did they share a father?

Elphaba was once again filled with the imminent need to find a solitary shelter, and without a word to Boq, she was off once again, leaving Boq to stare in bewilderment at the now rapidly disappearing green and blue figure.

* * *

Elphaba finally found her sanctuary in the rarely used bell tower of Shiz's Chapel to the Unnamed God. Once there, she began to pace, in a vain attempt to walk away her problems.

She did not want to believe the things the Clock had shown her, but she couldn't seem to doubt them. She knew, somehow, that what it had shown her was true. She could feel it somewhere deep within herself, in the same way that she could feel a burst of magic about to break forth. However, deciding that, ultimately, she had to believe the clock brought forth a whole new set of problems, the most important being the question of her identity. If the man she had always believed to be her father was, in truth, no relation, then where did that leave her? Did she still owe him her loyalty? Did the fact that he had given her food, clothing, and orders her entire life make her obligated to him? Did having a different origin change who she truly was? Did it change more than her legal identity?

Elphaba was interrupted once again by the sound of footfalls on the steps leading up to her tower, followed by a high, girlish giggle. With a feeling of mounting frustration, Elphaba realized that her sanctuary was not as isolated from outside knowledge as she had thought. Before she had the chance to remove or hide herself, the couple entered the room. The girl's shining blonde hair and brilliantly pink cupcake of a dress were unmistakable. Galinda had brought Fiyero, her newest soul mate, to the tower for a bit of quality time.

Galinda spotted her first.

"Elphie? What are you doing up here?" she asked, perplexed as to why she had found Elphaba, alone, in Shiz's most popular secret meeting point.

"Yes, Elphie," Fiyero added, equally intrigued, "what brings you to the haven of the not-so-studious?"

"I…I was just…I have to go." And with that, she began to bolt for the door.

"Elphaba, wait!" Fiyero said, blocking her exit as he did with his considerably larger frame. "What's the matter? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, I just have to go. Have a nice…oh, what am I doing here?"

She was gone before they could stop her. Galinda gave Fiyero an apologetic look before turning to follow her obviously distressed roommate.

* * *

Galinda scoured the campus for hours before returning, defeated, to Crage Hall, where she found Elphaba lying on her bed, staring expressionlessly at the ceiling.

"Where have you been all this time?" asked the disgruntled blonde.

"Here. I'm sorry about running out like that. I had a few things I needed to think through alone."

"Oh. Umm…do you want to talk about it?" Though her words were perfectly sympathetic, Galinda did not sound very sure of her own conversational skills.

"No, I don't think so. I doubt it would help."

"Well, if you change your mind…"

They lapsed into silence for several minutes. Elphaba continued to stare at the ceiling while Galinda went through her nightly ritual, applying an absurd number of creams and cleansers to her already flawless skin and carefully wrapping up her hair so that it would emerge, perfect and shining, the next day.

Unable to contain herself any longer, Elphaba broke the stillness of the room.

"What would you do if you found out you were someone else?" she asked her still primping roommate.

Galinda stared at her, bewildered by the abrupt question.

"I mean, what would you do if you found out you weren't the person you always thought you were?"

"Oh, Elphie, that's nonsense," she replied. "How can you be someone else? You can't be anyone other than who you are. Right? If you were, you wouldn't be you."

Elphaba was never certain whether, when Galinda spoke like this, she had true insight or if she were truly confused.

"I suppose you're right, in a sense." Elphaba was uncertain how much she should reveal to her not-always-dependable roommate. "But what I mean is, what if you found out after years of believing you were Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands, Beloved By All Who See Her, that you were really, let's say, the daughter of her maid, and some kind of accident or misunderstanding had led you to grow up with what was in reality a false identity?"

"The daughter of a maid! Why, I…what sort of accident?"

"I don't know. This is just supposition."

"But what does this have to do with what was wrong with you this afternoon?"

"It does. Now, will you answer the question?"

"Well, I suppose," she answered slowly, "if I found out I was the daughter of my maid, I would...just die."

"Galinda, please, do you honestly think that?"

"Why, Elphie, it's just too horrendifying to think about. Can't I have another supposition?"

"No."

"Then I…oh, I don't know! You know I'm no good at thinking!" And with that she threw herself down upon her bed, putting an end to any conversation the two might have, at least for the night.

"All right, then," Elphaba responded, frustrated with Galinda's inability to take herself seriously. "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back before curfew."

"Elphie?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't more help. Be careful, all right?"

"All right."


End file.
